The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided in this application is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Stretching is an important part of exercise. Practitioners of yoga and other static movement based exercises place extra emphasis on the building of strength at the same time as improving flexibility. Flexibility is also important for other types of athletes. For example, hurdlers must have flexible legs and hips so that they can clear the hurdles while minimizing deviations from their normal forward momentum. Soccer, football, tennis, golf, and many others all require flexibility.
To keep some major muscle groups limber and flexible, oftentimes people will use a wall or other static vertical surface to facilitate stretching. Frequently, in the comfort of one's own home the only vertical surfaces available are painted walls where scuff marks from shoes or feet are undesirable. Ideally, one could stretch, for example, their hamstring muscles using a vertical surface without needing to put their leg up against a wall.
Efforts have been made to solve this problem in the past, each falling short in one way or another. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,473, a device is described that helps a person lying on the floor to stretch their hamstrings. But this device requires the user to hold onto two handles while in use, otherwise the device will fall down to the floor under the pressure of the user's leg.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,762,936, a similar effort is made to facilitate hamstring stretching. But the device in this patent is so specialized as to diminish its usefulness for other types of stretches that require a vertical surface. As with the '473 patent, the device in this patent also requires users to use both hands to manipulate the device.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2013/0225378 describes a device that is designed to facilitate hamstring stretching from a lying down position. While this device creates a static component to stretch against, it fails to contemplate advantages enjoyed by a device that better simulates a static wall.
These and other efforts to create devices designed to facilitate leg stretching fail to consider advantages of simplicity, instead focusing on complex devices designed to stretch specific muscle groups. It would be advantageous to provide a simpler, more robust device.
All publications in this application are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided in this application, the definition of that term provided in this application applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.